Singapore said on Thursday that two men in their 60s had tested positive for the controversial Hantavirus.
The two men are currently isolated. They had returned from a cruise ship linked to a deadly outbreak of hantavirus.
Both men, aged 67 and 65, had been onboard the MV Hondius when it departed Argentina on April 1, the Communicable Diseases Agency said in a statement Thursday.
“One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic,” CDA said. The test results for hantavirus are pending.
Maria van Kerkhove, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the World Health Organization (WHO), said Hantavirus spreads through close, intimate contact”.
About 150 passengers and crew from 28 countries are reported to have initially been aboard the MV Hondius , but dozens disembarked on the island of St Helena on 24 April.
WHO said on Thursday that overall, five of eight suspected cases of hantavirus had been confirmed. So far three people have died, including a 69-year-old Dutch woman, who had the virus.
The first two people with the confirmed virus had “travelled through Argentina, Chile and Uruguay on a bird-watching trip which included visits to sites where the species of rat known to carry the virus was present”.
The incubation period of the Hantavirus can be up to six weeks – WHO says it was possible more cases may be reported.
WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus said his organisation “assesses the public health risk as low”.